Out of the South cometh the whirlwind

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For those saving up your nickels for a nice used car, keep your eyes peeled for a prize coming on the market this summer.

RM Sotheby’s will hold an auction Aug. 13 at Pebble Beach in Monterey, Calif., that will feature several high-performance vehicles, among them a 2006 Bugatti Veyron 16.4 that bears the chassis number 001.

The vehicle, whose owner is unidentified, was last auctioned in 2008 by Gooding & Company for $2.9 million.

“Given the unchecked appreciation of Veyrons – engineering showcases producing in excess of 1,000 horsepower – it seems safe to say the first in the Veyron line would bring significantly more,” according to the BBC.

The Veyron features an 8.0-litre, quad-turbocharged, W16 cylinder engine, equivalent to two narrow-angle V8 engines bolted together. The engine features four turbochargers and displaces nearly 488 cubic inches.

The vehicle has an astounding 10 radiators: three heat exchangers for the air-to-liquid intercoolers; three engine radiators; one for the air conditioning system; one transmission oil radiator; one differential oil radiator; and one engine oil radiator.

The Veyron’s average top speed was 253.81 mph during test sessions in April 2005.

By comparison, the fastest official speed recorded by a NASCAR driver is nearly 213 mph, by Bill Elliott at Talladega Superspeedway during qualifying in 1987, while the fastest speed run by an Indy car is just over 236 mph, set by Eddie Cheever at the 1996 Indianapolis 500.

Whoever comes away with this trophy better have a little extra cash on hand.

The Veyron uses special Michelin PAX run-flat tires that cost $25,000 per set. In addition, the tires can be mounted only in France, a service which costs $70,000, according to Car and Driver magazine.

If interested parties can’t land the Veyron, there are a number of other outstanding vehicles going up for sale at the August auction, including another Veyron, four Ferraris (288 GTO, F40, F50 and Enzo), a Lamborghini Reventon, a Maserati MC12, a Mercedes SLR McLaren, a Porsche 959 and a McLaren F1.

Amid the Ferraris, Maseratis and, by comparison, rather plebeian Porsches, were a handful of eye-catching Aston Martins.

Having never seen an Aston Martin in person, we were both taken aback by the make’s elegance and glamour. (Well, maybe me more so than my son, who at 12 was definitely more fascinated by the nearby Ferraris.)

Also not surprising: There was no clamour among the dealership’s salespeople to see if they could help us. I suppose a 40-year-old in jeans and sweatshirt with 12-year old dressed the same doesn’t inspire dreams of a big sale when one is peddling very big-ticket items.

As I glanced at the Astons, some of which topped out at more than $200K, I began to understand why I had come across so few of them on Southern US roads.

It appears Aston Martin is about to launch another sharp-looking ride that I will likely never see outside the big screen.

Called the Vulcan, it features a 7-liter V12 engine, a carbon fibre monocoque structure, a pushrod-actuated suspension with adjustable dampers and carbon ceramic racing brakes, according to the BBC.

The motor generates in excess of 800 horsepower, delivered to the rear wheels through a race-specification six-speed sequential shift gearbox, the media outlet added.

Additional details are scarce at present, but it appears production will be limited to just 24 vehicles. The price tag for the track-only car, with a top speed of 225 mph, is approximately $2.3 million.

Those able to snap up the Vulcan – named for the Roman god of fire – will be put through “a series of intensive driver-training programs on a roster of famous circuits,” led by Darren Turner, two-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Vulcan owners will work their way up from the V12 Vantage S and One-77 road cars and the Vantage GT4 racer before slipping behind the wheel of their new Vulcan, the BBC added.

Sounds like a car-driving fantasy camp.

The company has said it will reveal more details about the Vulcan at its debut at the Geneva International Motor Show on March 3.

One can only hope that whoever owns the Hoegh Osaka has plenty of insurance.

The above ship, carrying at more than $50 million worth of high-end cars, was deliberately run aground off the coast of the United Kingdom this past weekend to keep it from capsizing after it began listing dangerously.

While the ship remains afloat, it’s almost certain the 1,400 Jaguars, Land Rovers and BMWs, along with a single $375,000 Rolls-Royce Wraith, aboard the vessel took a beating.

The worst may not be over as winds estimated to reach 50 miles an hour winds are expected to batter the stricken vessel Wednesday. Similar conditions are expected again Friday

The 57,000-ton Hoegh Osaka was run aground between Southampton and the Isle of Wight. It was listing at an angle of 52 degrees as of Sunday night.

The salvage operation, which could take months, cannot begin “in earnest” until the bad weather has passed, according to a spokeswoman for the Maritime & Coastguard Agency.

While there’s likely nowhere on Earth where the above Audi R18 E-Tron Quattro is street legal – except perhaps Antarctica, which isn’t known for its road system – one can dream of getting behind the wheel of this stunning vehicle and opening it up.

That is, until one comes across an older couple in a late-model Buick chugging along in the fast lane at 48 miles an hour.

The Audi R18, the first hybrid race car to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans, is one of the favorites of this year’s race, not surprisingly.

The car possesses an unusual combination: It features a conventionally powered rear axle together with an electrically powered front axle. The system located in the front of the car contains two drive shafts and a motor generator unit, together with planetary gearbox, which retrieves its own energy from the electric flywheel accumulator mounted alongside the driver in the cockpit, according to Audi.

The energy is stored during deceleration, and then transferred to a flywheel that can shoot it back to the front axle for added acceleration.

In the process, the front wheels drive the motor generator unit. This accelerates a carbon-fiber flywheel, which runs in a high vacuum. Once the car takes a corner and the driver accelerates, the system delivers the energy to the front axle – but only above a speed of 75 mph, the manufacturer added.

The 3.7-litre V6 engine can muster 510 horsepower and speeds of more than 185 miles per hour.

The Chrysler name has taken a beating in recent years, between the automaker declaring bankruptcy, being bailed out by the US government and choosing to discontinue such venerable lines as Plymouth.

While sales have rebounded over the past few years, proof of just how high automaker once flew was evident this past weekend when a Chrysler muscle car from more than 40 years ago sold for $3.78 million.

The $3.78 million figure makes the ’71 Plymouth the most valuable Chrysler product ever sold. The final total included an 8 percent commission for Mecum.

The Hemi Cuda was one of only two built for the US that year with a 4-speed manual transmission and a 425-hp big-block V-8 engine. Of the two, the bright blue beast sold Saturday is the only one with its original motor, according to Mecum’s.

Chrysler made just 11 Hemi Cuda convertibles in all in 1971.

Muscle cars – the name attached to high-performance automobiles – came into prominence in the 1950s and ‘60s, with the major American automakers all producing their version of souped-up cars with powerful engines.

According to Mecum’s, the car in question was purchased new by a “famous cartoonist” who later sold it to someone in Oregon. A few years later, however, it was confiscated in a drug bust and ended up at a police auction in 1999, where it went for the then-astonishing price of $410,000, according to Fox News.

(Photos show the 1971 Plymouth Hemi Cuda convertible that sold this past weekend for $3.78 million.)

Among the many things that Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll owns is a race track. That’s handy because the Quebec entrepreneur has more than 20 Ferraris, including a 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4*S N.A.R.T. Spider that he purchased at auction last month for $27.5 million.

The final price, which included commission, makes the red roadster the most expensive road car ever sold at auction.

N.A.R.T. stands for “North American Racing Team,” a Ferrari-backed venture created in the late 1950s to promote the brand in the US.

One of only 10 Ferrari 275 GTB/4*S N.A.R.T. Spiders ever built, it had been owned by the same family since its creation – that of former Lexington, N.C., Mayor Eddie Smith, who died in 2007.

Smith bought the car for $14,500 when it was new. Despite its rarity, he enjoyed driving it regularly and was known throughout the small town of Lexington for giving kids a ride in the car so they should share the experience, according to the Times.

Since Smith’s death the Ferrari has been stored in a specially built garage. Proceeds from the sale were to be given to charity, according to Smith’s son.

But, then again, power, noise and flashy pics can do much to mask muddled writing.

Yes, for the vast majority of us plebeians, dreaming of owning an Aston Martin is akin to window shopping on Beverly Hill’s Rodeo Drive – except, perhaps, you might get something a little more tangible for your money.

Perhaps that’s why TopGear loaded its review of the V12 Vantage S with jargon that makes it practically incomprehensible at first glance.

For example:

Following on from the Rapide S revealed earlier this year, the new Vantage S replaces the old V12 Vantage, and sports Aston’s new AM28 6-litre V12 engine, producing the same figures as the Vanquish. So you’re looking at 565bhp – up from 510bhp – 457lb-ft of torque and a top speed of 205mph. The old car did a piffling 183mph; positively pedestrian.